100 Nights of Hero sets the bar for 2026’s most fashionable film 

2026 is shaping up to be a landmark year for fashionable films. From the buzz around the return of Valentino’s Rockstud pump in the trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 to the onslaught of online debates sparked by Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, style on screen is stealing the spotlight like never before. 

Still, unlimited budgets and boundless creative freedom don’t always translate into iconic style moments. The antidote to blockbuster vulgarities comes from a more inventive, independent corner of cinema: Julia Jackman’s adaptation of Isabel Greenberg’s 2016 graphic novel The One Hundred Nights of Hero – a film designed to delight anyone with an eye for fashion.

The fairy tale follows the aristocratic Cherry (Maika Monroe) and her sharp-witted maid, Hero (Emma Corrin), as they navigate a rigid patriarchal society. Enter Nicolas Galantine’s rakish libertine, Manfred, who wagers with Cherry’s husband that he can tempt her from virtue.

Bringing the film’s fantastical world (and its colourful characters) to life is costume designer Susie Coulthard. “When I read the script, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t – I saw everything as it should be in my head,” she tells me. While Coulthard did peek at the source material, she admits that “most of my references came from fashion”.

On the surface, historical references abound. Fairy-tale-appropriate proportions shine through exaggerated puff sleeves and exposed corsetry. Of course, this isn’t a retelling of any specific time or place that ever existed. Rather, it acts as a jumping-off point that subverts our expectations.

“Nothing we pulled was medieval,” Coulthard explains. Instead, visits to costume houses gave her the freedom to play with proportion – deciding what should be bigger and what could be exaggerated. The result is a visual feast, not unlike flipping through the lavish, weighty pages of Vogue: a true sartorial spectacle.

In a move that will delight any fashion enthusiast, Coulthard looked back to Steven Meisel’s Organised Robots from the March 2006 issue of Vogue Italia. Starring Sasha Pivovarova and Gemma Ward, the coquette styling and sculptural headpieces informed elements of both of the film’s heroines.

Coulthard worked with longtime collaborator, milliner Adèle Mildred of Hood London on the show-stopping headwear worn by Monroe and Corin. The wider team included tailor Clinton Lotter, whose CV boasts work with the likes of McQueen and Burberry.

With only weeks to prepare, Coulthard and her team leaned on contemporary designers to help establish the film’s visual language. Among them was Cecilie Bahnsen, whose romantic silhouettes were loaned for Cherry, including a pink nightgown that perfectly captured the character’s fragile elegance while grounding the fantasy in recognisably modern fashion.

Star power also opened doors to more ambitious pieces. “When Charli xcx came on board, I knew we’d be able to pull some incredible press pieces for her,” Coulthard says. That confidence paid off in the form of Elie Saab couture, secured for a wedding scene.

Of all the characters, it is Hero’s restraint that resonated with the film’s spirit, and Coulthard aesthetic. “Hero is hiding in plain sight,” Coulthard explains. “She’s a worker, but she’s really a creative – someone who reads and writes, but has to hide that part of herself. For me, her costume tells the story of what this film is really about.”

Designed as a functional yet fashion-forward uniform, Hero’s look features an oversized white collar that feels part sisterhood, part Prada intellectual. An understated symbol of rebellion within conformity.

Together, these choices reflect Coulthard’s approach to costume: a fantastical reimagining of historical dress that resists strict period accuracy in favour of emotional truth. By filtering the past through a contemporary fashion lens, she allows modern designers to reshape history into something vividly new.

“I feel really strongly about this film,” she says. “It’s one of my favourite projects I’ve worked on.” What results are costumes for a world that feels timeless rather than dated, re-envisioning an imagined history through the language of contemporary fashion.

100 Nights of Hero is out in UK cinemas now.